1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for analyzing visible objects and for expressing visually observable information in a quantitative form, wherein the distribution, size, shape and similar characteristics related to the shape of objects appearing essentially on one level or plane of the sample and deviating from their environment both visually and to their other physical properties, are detected and the results of detection are immediately transferred to a computing unit for further treatment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In industry, medicine, etc., it is often necessary to analyze materials or other objects which contain indefinitely distributed and situated points or areas of different intensities of greyness or color. Some examples of this are the analysis of a flowing suspension in the mineral refining industry and the analysis of a body fluid in medicine.
One previously known method of making such observations is to use an apparatus based on the principle of a normal TV camera; through, for example, a microscope or some other optics an appropriately enlarged or reduced image of the sample is reproduced on the detector surface. Such a system is, however, relatively expensive and complicated and therefore seldom practical. In addition, it must be noted that usually clear numerical data are necessary for the comparison and evaluation of different objects and for further processing of the information, and in that case a visual observation is not satisfactory.
Thus, the image information is converted into a pulse form even when using certain television systems, and in principle this takes place so, for example, that one or more threshold levels is selected for the signal which describes the brightness of the various points of the image, in which case a certain intensity range of the signal thus corresponds to a certain digital value, in other words, the light intensity signal is made discrete. The transformation of the image takes place with a continuous scanning signal, and the different statistical analyses for which these apparatuses are generally used, require for the computing a logic circuit system which is sometimes followed by a programmable computer. The transfer of information to the binary memory unit is possible only indirectly when a television system is used.